Yesterday was the Siren Music Fest, a yearly gathering for hip kids to enjoy their kind of music live, and in the midst of Coney Island. I’ve been going for four years now (been there since year one actually) and this year’s show was fun… more or less.
Let me start by saying I fucking love Coney Island. I know it’s a really poor man’s state fair (it’s not even a poor man’s Disneyland) but there’s something about the place I find totally mesmerizing, even if most of my friends find it a total shithole. Maybe it’s the run down rides, the creepy carny folks begging for “just one more player” and the crappy knock off stuffed animals they use as incenticves (a green stuffed Garlfield?), the greasy food, the filthy beach and the people who actually swim in its waters, the noisy arcades, the circus sideshow (along with the great art dedicated to the show; I didn’t know bearded women were generally topless), the combination of worn out 1998 techno and R&B thumping to the Polar Express, or the world famous Cyclone, but there is something that compels me to return at least once a year, despite the knowledge that it is a shithole.
Though the best part is easily people watching, and it’s always the most enjoyable at Siren. Whereas Coney Island is usually populated with thuggish urban Brooklyn-ites looking for the kind of fun that is affordable to them, with a dash of old Spanish and Russian folks who actually live in the area, and the music fest plopps a few thousand tragically hip Willamsburg kids right into the mix. It was funny hearing friends constantly refer to them as people from Seattle. Nice to know my hometown’s still associated with anything that’s “indie.”
It’s also nice to see that the emo crowd has loosened up with their formerly strict dress code; it was ridiculous seeing these kids wearing turtlenecks in the 90+ degree sun in the past. And this year saw an absolutely insane amount of fucking cute girls. These types of things always bring in a ton a cute indie chick with glasses, but Jesus Christ!
Anyway, the main reason to go to Siren is to check out the music everyone’s into (since I really don’t keep abreast of the music scene nearly as much as films, video games, and everything else). But like the past, it’s not so easy to check everything out when you have to deal with large crowds, friends who have differing tastes, and the need to play video games at the arcades. I caught Your Enemies Friends, who were pretty good, and The Thermals, who were also decent though most of their songs sounded pretty much alike, and not much else. I wanted to see Vue, but ended up totally missing them, and by the time I got the chance to check out TV on the Radio, there was such a heavy crowd it was too hard to get close to the stage, so I could barely hear them (plus they didn’t sound all too interesting; I only wanted to hear them cuz they had a cool name). And hence why I didn’t bother to check out some of the later bands like Blonde Redhead and Death Cab For Cutie (though I guess I know about 30 people whom I can ask to borrow a CD from). I still wish I at least tried checking out And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.
But the real reason to go to Siren are the side acts. The first year I discovered Corn Mo, the second year it was the Kalamazoo Precinct of Women Wrestlers (better known as KPOWW!, who are sadly now no more), and the third it was Vic Thrill. And this year it was… nobody. For whatever reason, the schedules for the side acts were not listed, so it was hard to know who or what was going on, especially with two different stages this year. But my friends and I did find out that Vic Thrill was doing another performance, so we all made plans to check that out (though I was able to check out the last song from Mike Sandwich who was on before Vic and was pretty decen)t.
And just as it was time for Vic’s set, it began to rain. So me and my friends all took shelter at the beer tent, and hung out there for an hour while waiting for the rain to subside, which it never did. Considering that Vic uses a few PowerPooks, among other pieces of electronica, in his performance, I can see why the rest of the show was called off. At least it was fun watching Richie and Mike from the now defunct Beer Drinking Fools , who we had run into earlier (and who we also ran into at last year’s Siren and turned us onto Vic in the first place), get more and more shitfaced drunk.
As for the rest of the day, I got to play OutRun 2 once again, as well as OutRunners (I’m still pissed that a decent home version was never produced). And of course, I took my required spin on what is perhaps the best Ms. Pac Man machine in existence today: it’s a smaller, bar type until, though its a stand up and not a sit down, it’s on the fastest speed level, and the control are absolutely spot on. But sadly, the absence of Sonic the Fighters is still felt.
Before heading to the park, my friends noted that I had lost weight. Well I think the half dozen Nathan’s hot dogs and chili dogs, as well as all the cheese fries (plus one corn dog), undid all that hard work. Plus we didn’t get the chance to see the circus sideshow this year, though ever since Koko the Killer Clown went missing, it really hasn’t been the same. And lastly, I went on the bumper cars twice, first time sober, second time drunk, thanks to the British friend of a friend who joined us at the end of the day. Apparently it’s not called bumper cars but “dodge’ems” in England, and get this, you’re not supposed to hit other people! Those wacky Brits…
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